Beauford's Acrylic Still Life on Board Sold at Case Antiques Auction

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about an unusual Beauford Delaney abstract that Case Antiques in Knoxville, TN offered at auction:

Abstract Still Life Composition
(1976) Oil on board, acrylic and mixed media
Signed and dated lower left "Beauford Delaney 1976"
13 7/8" H x 19 5/8"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

This acrylic still life sold for a total of $8024 ($6800 bid plus buyer's premium of 26%). The winning bid was $800 above the highest predicted selling price.

The provenance for the painting is listed as "Private South Carolina collection, originally purchased from the Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois." It will now enter a different private collection.

Beauford's Portrait of Irene Rose

Beauford's magnificent portrait of his friend Irene Rose is one of works being shown at the ACA Galleries exhibition On Such a Night as This.

Portrait of Irene Rose
(1944) Oil on board
45 1/2 in x 35 in
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo courtesy of ACA Galleries, New York
The exhibition takes its name from Romare Bearden's 1975 collage on board, which is displayed in the show. Other artists whose works are displayed include John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Edmonia Lewis, Norman Lewis, Henry O. Tanner, and Hale Woodruff.

Irene and Billy Rose were friends of Beauford from Philadelphia, introduced to him by Dorothy Gates. They would maintain a lifelong friendship. With Gates, Irene drove Beauford to Saratoga for his 1950 fellowship stay at Yaddo. She visited him in Paris in 1955, when he lived at the Hôtel des Ecoles. Billy Rose gave Beauford the raincoat that Beauford turned into canvas in 1954.

Portrait of Irene Rose is currently held in a private collection. It is displayed in ACA Galleries' viewing room during the exhibition.

Originally scheduled to run from November 10 - December 22, 2016, On Such a Night as This has been extended through January 28, 2017.

ACA Galleries
529 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: 212-206-8080
e-mail:

Case Antiques Auction of Beauford Delaney Abstract

An unusual Beauford Delaney abstract is up for auction at Case Antiques in Knoxville, TN:

Abstract Still Life Composition
(1976) Oil on board, acrylic and mixed media
Signed and dated lower left "Beauford Delaney 1976"
13 7/8" H x 19 5/8"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

This piece is dated 1976, which is the year after Beauford was committed to Sainte-Anne's Hospital. It is the first piece I recall seeing that dates from the last four years of his life.

Abstract Still Life Composition (detail)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The provenance is listed as "Private South Carolina collection, originally purchased from the Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois."

I had hoped to interview Jim Romano, owner of the Tree Gallery, to learn how he acquired the painting. The Tree Gallery was located at 613 Tree Studios of the historically-classified Tree Studios Building and Annexes in Chicago's River North district. This property was renovated in the early 2000s and all occupants were forced to vacate the premises.

Upon researching Romano, I learned that he died in 2007.

Case Antiques has sold the following Beauford Delaney paintings in the past:

Untitled
Watercolor on paper
Signed and dated lower left in red ink, "Beauford Delaney 1971"
Photo courtesy of Case Antiques
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Portrait of Delia Delaney
(1964) Oil on canvas
Knoxville Museum of Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled (Abstract of Face)
Oil on fabric pillowcase
Photo courtesy of Case Antiques
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The estimated sale price for Acrylic Still Life Composition is $4,000 - $6,000.

The auction is scheduled for January 21, 2017. For additional information, contact Case Antiques at

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Beauford at the American Cultural Center's Paris Celebration of Henry Miller

Henry Miller and Beauford met for the first time in New York during the early 1940s. Miller visited Beauford's Greene Street studio in the fall of 1943 and Beauford painting a stunning portrait of him in 1944.

Beauford showed the painting during a group exhibition in New York in 1945 and had it shipped to Miller's home in Big Sur in 1946. An image of the portrait was included in a 1971 Playboy article about Miller.

Photo of Henry Miller at his home in Big Sur
standing in front of Beauford's portrait of him
Photo from Beauford Delaney archives
reproduced by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image @Wells International Foundation
Beauford and Miller developed a deep and lifelong friendship and Beauford was one of the persons Miller sought out whenever he visited Paris.

So it is perhaps not surprising that when the American Cultural Center in Paris organized a birthday celebration for Miller in January 1972, Beauford would be invited to participate in the festivities.

Don Foresta was the director of the American Cultural Center, AKA "The Dragon Center," at the time. I met him in Paris and he shared the story of this event for publication in the blog.

Foresta took on the directorship of the Center in 1971 as a long-time diplomat of the U.S. Foreign Service. Shortly thereafter, he was approached by Robert Snyder, Miller's son-in-law, about screening Snyder's 1969 documentary entitled "The Henry Miller Odyssey." Inspired by Snyder's request, Foresta organized a birthday celebration for Miller that took place at the Center in January 1972. (Miller was born on December 26, 1891.)

Snyder told Foresta about Beauford and Foresta met Beauford shortly thereafter. He visited Beauford at the rue Vercingétorix studio and found him to be quite serious and not very talkative.

Foresta went on to invite four artists who knew Miller and whose work Miller appreciated to contribute works to be shown at the week-long event: Beauford, Brassaï (Gyula Halász), Michonze, and Hans Reichel. Their exhibition was called Les Amis Parisiens de Henry Miller.

The Center published a catalog of sorts, which included a printed list of the seven works that Beauford contributed to the show and a full-page color reproduction of Beauford's portrait of Miller that is signed by Beauford in blue ink at the bottom margin of the page.

Portrait of Henry Miller
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image (detail) from Abe Books Web site
Miller's favorite music was played on piano and French translations of some of his texts were read.

While the description of the event in Beauford'd biography, Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, indicates that Miller attended the event, Foresta says that Miller could not travel to Paris to celebrate his birthday. Both sources state that Miller shipped Beauford's portrait to Paris and that it served as the centerpiece of the art exhibition.

Beauford wrote a tribute to Miller for his 80th birthday, which I published previously on the Les Amis blog. Read it HERE.

"Henry Miller 80," the document that the American Cultural Center printed for the event, is a collector's item. It is available for purchase at Abe Books and at Amazon.com.

Beauford at the Musée du quai Branly's Exhibition The Color Line

Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald (detail)
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Beauford's Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald is a sparkling gem among the works of fine art being displayed at the exhibition entitled The Color Line, which is currently being shown at the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac in Paris.

On loan from the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, South Carolina, it hangs in the "Black is Beautiful" section of the exhibition.

The SCAD Museum of Art describes the painting as follows:

Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald encapsulates Beauford Delaney’s range of artistic styles, marrying gestural abstract mark making with portraiture. His figurative works, which included portraits of other notable artists of the time such as Duke Ellington and Marian Anderson, turned ever more abstract and into complete non-representation after Delaney moved from New York to Paris in the early 1950s. This portrait parallels this stylistic shift as the characteristics of Ms. Fitzgerald’s face subtly emerge from, or disappear into, the expansive field of color and texture around her.

Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald
(1968) Oil on canvas
Permanent collection of the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah
Gift of Dr. Walter O. and Mrs. Linda J. Evans
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

The Color Line is an exhibition about U.S. history in which an inordinate number of works of fine art are hung. It will be on display through January 15, 2017.

The Color Line
Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
Telephone: 01.56.61.70.00
Internet: http://www.quaibranly.fr
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday - 11 AM to 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday - 11 AM to 9 PM. Closed Mondays.
Entry fee: 10€
Reduced fee: 7€

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney is taking off for the holidays and will be back online in January 2017.

For a jazzy start to your Christmas weekend, click HERE to enjoy a song by Ella!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Beauford's Rehearsal

At the recent Art Basel Miami Beach Fair, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery's (MRG) Jazz and Improvisation checklist included eleven Beauford Delaney works. Among them was Rehearsal, an image of which is shown below.

Rehearsal
(1952) oil on canvas
36 1/8" x 30 1/8" / 91.8 x 76.5 cm
signed and dated
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
This painting was enjoyed by two private collectors prior to finding its way to MRG. Among the gallery's notes about the work is the following statement:

Rehearsal is extremely autobiographical and the church choir subject is one that naturally resonated with Delaney. His father Samuel Delaney was a Methodist minister, and his favorite brother, Samuel Emery Delaney, was a gospel singer and a member of a jubilee quartet that traveled throughout the South singing spirituals and gospels. Delaney himself loved to sing and occasionally gave recitals in New York clubs and concert halls.

Rehearsal was one of the paintings shown at Beauford's final solo exhibition at the Roko Gallery in New York (December 29, 1952 - January 22, 1953). In her Art News article about the exhbition, Betty Holloway described the painting has having a "solemn" mood.

In 1994, Rehearsal was displayed in New York once again - this time at the Philippe Briet Gallery. The solo show was called Beauford Delaney: The New York Years (1929-1952). It consisted of 47 works that Beauford created between 1929 and 1953.

Eleanor Heartney wrote an insightful review of the exhibition (Art in America, November 1994), which included multiple works inspired by musical themes. She says the following about Rehearsal:

In a different mood, Rehearsal (1952) depicts a gospel choir practicing beneath the gothic arches of brilliantly colored church windows.

She then goes on to briefly discuss Beauford's "disappearance from the consciousness of the New York art world," attributing it in part to Beauford's emigration from New York to Paris at precisely the time when New York was becoming recognized as "the world's cultural capital."

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
100 11th Avenue at 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
Internet: http://michaelrosenfeldart.com

SOLD: Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)

Beauford's Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) (Lot 21) sold at Swann Auction Galleries' autumn African-American Fine Art sale on Thursday, October 6, 2016.

Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)
(circa 1930-35) Color pastels and charcoal on
gray, textured wove paper
597x445 mm; 23x17 1/2 inches
Signed in charcoal at lower left
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The purchase price was $5000 (buyer's premium included).

Beauford created a niche for himself during his early years in New York by painting pastel and charcoal portraits. He began at Billy Pierce's Dancing School, applying the skills that he learned at the schools he attended in Boston. Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) is representative of this period of Beauford's career.

Beauford at Swann Auction Galleries: October 2016 Sale

Swann Auction Galleries is having its autumn sale of African-American Fine Art at 2:30 PM on Thursday, October 6, 2016.

Beauford's Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man) (Lot 21) is available for purchase at this sale.

Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man)
(circa 1930-35) Color pastels and charcoal on
gray, textured wove paper
597x445 mm; 23x17 1/2 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It is signed in charcoal at the lower left.

This portrait is an early work of Beauford, likely made soon after he moved from Knoxville to New York City. It is currently part of a private collection; the owner obtained the work from Beauford's brother, Joseph. Its estimated value is $6,000 - $9,000.

Preview dates for the show are as follows: Saturday, October 1 from 12 PM - 5 PM; Monday, October 3 from 3 PM - 5 PM; and Thursday, October 6 from 10 AM - noon.

For more information, contact Nigel Freeman at

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A New Sight: Light & the Color Yellow in Beauford Delaney’s Portraits

By Sojourner Ahébée

What becomes immediately apparent about Beauford Delaney’s paintings is his obsession with light. Delaney often used the color yellow in his work as an expression of this light. Though yellow is present in many of his abstracts, his use of the color in his portraits serves as a fascinating dimension of what I would call a kind of second sight -- his ability to see those he painted beyond their physical presentation and to capture the energy, love, or brilliance they brought into the world.

If we are to talk about the intersection of light and the color yellow in Delaney’s portraits, we must also think about the trajectory of his portraits throughout his lifetime. As I was digging into his past, I encountered an intriguing work that he painted of a young woman in 1934.

Untitled (Portrait of a Young Woman)
(1934) Color pastels
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
A previous Les Amis de Beauford Delaney blog post on Delaney’s portraiture presents readers with a quote by Dr. Catherine St. John:

It is the expressive single-figure realist portrait that first brought Beauford Delaney critical notice and a measure of success. He loved people. He continued the art of portraiture without interruption throughout his career. His portraits tell a story that is human and real, saying as much about him as those he painted.

What struck me the most about Delaney’s 1934 portrait of the young woman was its staggering realism. It is so detail-focused that it almost feels like looking at a photograph. The shadows falling on the woman’s face, her slightly disproportionate eyes, and the precision of the strands of hair at the top of her head all work to tell what Dr. St. John has identified as a “human story.”

Delaney’s mastery of such realism is simply a testament to the commitment he had to accurately capturing the likeness of his subjects. Every feature of the woman -- from the muscle on the left side of her neck to the subtle rouge in her cheeks -- is accounted for. Though this portrait has no trace of Delaney’s legendary yellow, it does play with light and darkness in interesting ways.

Yet, Delaney moved away from such realism in his later portraits. I wonder if this is indicative of the shortcomings of “primary” sight.

As Delaney experimented with other modes of portraiture, I think he realized that telling a person’s story demanded much more than replicating their features on the canvas. Maybe the painter asked himself to re-imagine a visual language for expressing who a person was (and what they offered the world) that was not wholly dependent on a literal or unembellished presentation of their physical countenance. Which only means he was looking for a figurative mode of storytelling.

And he certainly found one. Consider his 1968 portrait of Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald
(1968) Oil on canvas
The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Here, the Queen of Jazz is shrouded in a misty yellow hue. Her head is the only part of her body that is identifiable, and even that is cloaked in Delaney’s remarkable yellow. Unlike the portrait of the young woman, this painting does not place great urgency on explicit and unambiguous details of the human body.

It would have been easy for Delaney to create a standard portrait of Lady Ella, but that would have been an incomplete rendering of the power and the light she made possible through her voice and her music. Think “Summertime” or “Cry Me a River”: Fitzgerald’s voice exists between a tender space and one ravaged by fire and uproar. She can sing sweetly as she drags out a note, but she can just as quickly disrupt that serenity with a booming moan. Regardless of what she sings and how, she illuminates some of the most human elements of waking life: love, heartbreak, desire. The way in which the yellow dominates the painting, almost like the way light pushes itself into a dark room to illuminate it, is just the way Fitzgerald’s voice moves into the ears and hearts of her listeners.

I think it is this dynamism of Fitzgerald’s voice and message that Delaney wished to capture in his painting of her. His use of the color yellow is not solely about an obsession with light, but also an opportunity to look into the internal landscape of a person, and he takes full advantage of this opportunity with Ella.

As Delaney continued to envelop his portraits in yellow hues, I think he was searching for a new sight. He was asking himself what of people is there to see and how could he make visible the most precious parts of their soul.

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Sojourner Ahébée is a 2016 BOSP Continuation International Fellow for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. She is currently serving as the Paris intern for the Wells International Foundation.

Read more of Sojourner's work at Sojourner Ahébée.

Knoxville Museum of Art acquires two Beauford Delaney portraits

I am pleased to share the following release from the Knoxville Museum of Art:

The Knoxville Museum of Art announced its purchase two Beauford Delaney portraits from the artist’s estate: Portrait of Delia Delaney (1933), and Dante Pavone as Christ (1948). The purchase was made possible by financial assistance from the KMA’s Collectors Circle, a special membership group that helps support the development of the museum’s collection.

Portrait of Delia Delaney (1933) presents a bold and vibrant likeness of the artist’s mother, Delia (1865-1958), the stern matriarch of the family. The portrait was likely done during Beauford’s return trip to Knoxville in 1933. The portrait must have been an important keepsake, as the artist never sold it and used it as the basis for a larger oil portrait some 30 years later.

While Delaney describes her features with great attention to detail and conveys her strength, he transforms the background into an abstract study of luminous color.

Portrait of Delia Delaney
(1933) Pastel on paper
19 x 20 inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Knoxville Museum of Art, purchase with funds provided by the KMA Collectors Circle with additional gifts from Barbara Apking, June and Rob Heller, Donna Kerr, Alexandra Rosen and Donald Cooney, Ted Smith and David Butler, Mimi and Milton Turner, John Cotham, Jan and Pete Crawford, Cathy and Mark Hill, Florence and Russell Johnston, John Z. C. Thomas, Donna and Terry Wertz, Jayne and Myron Ely, Sarah Stowers, Robin and Joe Ben Turner, and Jacqueline Wilson
Dante Pavone as Christ (1948) depicts one of Beauford’s closest friends during the period in which the artist was living at 181 Greene Street in New York (1936-1953). Pavone (1910-1997) was a singer and later a voice coach for performers including Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Aretha Franklin, and Steven Tyler.

For years, Delaney was obsessed with depicting Pavone, and produced many portraits of him — several of which appear to represent the spirit of his sitter rather than his physical likeness. This portrait is especially unusual as the artist presents his subject as Christ, with his left hand raised in a gesture of blessing, and his head encircled by a halo of brilliant white light.

Dante Pavone as Christ
(1948) Pastel on paper
23 ¼ x 19 ¾ inches
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Knoxville Museum of Art, purchase with funds provided by the KMA Collectors Circle with additional gifts from Barbara Apking, June and Rob Heller, Donna Kerr, Alexandra Rosen and Donald Cooney, Ted Smith and David Butler, Mimi and Milton Turner, John Cotham, Jan and Pete Crawford, Cathy and Mark Hill, Florence and Russell Johnston, John Z. C. Thomas, Donna and Terry Wertz, Jayne and Myron Ely, Sarah Stowers, Robin and Joe Ben Turner, and Jacqueline Wilson
As Delaney’s friend author Henry Miller observed in The Amazing and Invariable Beauford Delaney (1945),

Supposing that for the next five years he [Delaney] were to do nothing but Dante...Dante was a wondrous landscape for Beauford; he had cosmic proportions, and his skull though shorn of locks was full of mystery. A man studying his friend day in and day out for five years ought to arrive at some remarkable conclusions. With time Dante could become for Beauford what Oedipus became for Freud.

Beauford's "The Burning Bush" in "Modern Heroics" Exhibition at the Newark Museum

The Newark Museum is currently holding a six-month exhibition of African-American expressionist art called Modern Heroics: 75 Years of African-American Expressionism at the Newark Museum. It opens today.

The museum's Web page describes the show as featuring "34 paintings and sculptural works with an emphasis on storytelling and expressive imagery" and says that it "brings together rarely exhibited works by leading historical and contemporary African-American artists, placing in dialogue several generations and a range of self-taught and formally trained approaches."

In an article that I published several years ago, I reported that the Newark Museum holds two Beauford Delaney works and that only one was on display. This work, called The Burning Bush, is part of the Modern Heroics exhibition. Dated 1941, the year that Beauford revealed himself publicly as a modernist (according to biographer David A. Leeming), it is the earliest work included in the exhibition.

The Burning Bush
(1941) Oil on paperboard
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The introduction for the exhibition catalog, written by Tricia Laughlin Bloom, Curator of American Art, describes The Burning Bush as follows:

A compact, thickly painted composition of an abstract landscape, The Burning Bush reinterprets the Old Testament story in which God appeared to Moses as a burning bush: divinity and nature seem to converge in this forceful scene.

Regarding Beauford and his relationship with the museum, Bloom says:

Delaney happened to play an important role in building Newark’s permanent collection of African-American art. In 1943 he made a gift to the Museum of a work on paper made that year, titled Portrait of a Man. This pastel drawing became the second work by an African-American artist to enter Newark’s permanent collection.

Portrait of a Man
(1943) Pastel on paper
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
A series of handwritten and typed letters between Delaney and Beatrice Windsor (director of the Newark Museum from 1929 to 1947) reveals a simple but significant exchange that was catalyzing for the growth of the collection. Ms. Windsor, who knew Delaney personally, made a gift to him of several frames, and as a gesture of thanks Delaney made a gift to the Museum of his work.

In the correspondence between Delaney and Windsor both expressed sincere appreciation for the other’s gift, and the following year Newark organized its first original show dedicated to African-American art—an exhibition to which Delaney, Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden and ten other artists lent their work directly.

Nearly half of the artists included in that 1944 show are now represented in Newark’s permanent collection, a living testament to the Museum’s commitment to the art of today.

During the Modern Heroics exhibition, The Burning Bush will be displayed in the featured exhibition space on the first floor of the museum.

Beauford on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Perhaps for the first time, two major exhibitions of Beauford's work are taking place simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic!

The first opened on February 3rd at Columbia Global Centers, Reid Hall, in Paris.

Beauford Delaney:
Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color

Due to the success of the opening reception, the exhibition, and associated events at Columbia Global Centers | Paris, Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color has been extended through March 15 2016!

Here are some of the works on view:

Untitled
1959, Oil on canvas
144.5 x 95.5 cm; 56.9" x 37.6"
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Portrait of Robert Tricoire
1969, Oil on canvas
65 x 54 cm; 25.6" x 21.2"
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Untitled
1956, Inks on paper
45 x 33.5 cm; 17.7" x 13.2"
Private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The works presented above and seventeen additional works in the exhibition have been incorporated into the University of Arizona's Augmented Reality project. Video augments of these paintings and works on paper are accessible through the exhibition catalog by using the Blippar app.

Free visits to see the exhibition are scheduled for the following dates:

• Tuesday, March 8 at 10:30 AM
• Thursday, March 10 at 11 AM
• Monday, March 14 at 3:30 PM

Registration is required. To register, send e-mail to .

For more information about the show, click on the links below:

Opening reception

Round Table

Beauford Delaney commemorative walking tour


The second exhibition is taking place at The Art Show – ADAA in New York.

In Focus: Beauford Delaney

The Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is featuring fifteen of Beauford's works at The Art Show - ADAA from March 2-6, 2016. Among them are:

Untitled, 1951
Oil on canvas
40 1/2" x 60 1/4"; 102.9 x 153 cm
signed and dated
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Reve, c.1959
Oil on canvas
39 3/8" x 32"; 100 x 81.3 cm
signed
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Beauford's works are featured in an Artsy editorial that was published about this show on March 2, 2016.

The Art Show is being held at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street in New York City. Hours are as follows:

Saturday, March 5 - 12-7 PM

Sunday, March 6 - 12-5 PM

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Columbia Global Centers | Paris, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are bringing you this exhibition of Beauford Delaney works at Reid Hall in Paris.
WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color: Before the Opening

The February 3rd opening of the Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color exhibition was a huge success! Photos and a full report on the evening's happenings will come next week.

To whet your appetite for them, I'm sharing behind-the-scenes images of the preparation of the show.

It took three days to hang the exhibition.

Paintings ready for hanging
© Discover Paris!

Thierry hangs La Nativité
© Discover Paris!

Thierry hangs The Eye
© Discover Paris!

Tom Reeves photographs Thierry preparing a painting for hanging
© Discover Paris!

The Grande Salle
© Discover Paris!

Co-curators Monique Wells and Laurence Choko
© Discover Paris!

Monique showing the donor list
© Discover Paris!
Professor Bryan Carter and students from the University of Arizona spent the morning of February 1 video-ing spoken word artist Mike Ladd and me to create Blippar video augments for 20 of the 40+ paintings that are being displayed at the exhibition.

Professor Bryan Carter (far right), University of Arizona students, and Monique (front left)
© Discover Paris!

Professor Carter hangs green screen for video session
© Discover Paris!

Chatting during video session
© Discover Paris!

Mike Ladd
© Discover Paris!

Talking with Professor Carter in the Salle de Conferences
© Discover Paris!
In the meantime, J Rêve International founder, Jacqueline Cofield, was checking out the hotel where the teachers participating in her Global Educator Program will stay during the week of February 15.

Jacqueline Cofield, founder of J Rêve International
© Discover Paris!

Hôtel Le M is one of the two sites in Montparnasse that bears a Beauford Delaney commemorative plaque on the façade.

Hôtel Le M - Beauford Delaney commemorative plaque

© Discover Paris!

J Rêve International is bringing eight U.S. teachers to Paris for a workshop on incorporating the arts into teaching practices for multiple disciplines. Beauford's life and art are the focal point for the workshop.

Among the activities planned are an educator meet-and-greet that will permit teachers in the French and U.S. systems to exchange information and ideas:

and a panel discussion on STEAM and Multiple Intelligences that is open to the public:

Next week - the opening!

Beauford: News from the Net

We are five days away from the opening of

Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color!

While I concentrate on the final organizational details for the exhibition, I want to share a couple of news bytes about Beauford from the Internet.

Art of Jazz: Form/Performance/Notes is a three-part exhibition at The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art held in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums. Consisting of three exhibits at two venues, its mission is to explore the interaction between jazz music and the visual arts. "Performance" will be located in Cooper Gallery's lobby and front galleries. Works by Beauford will be displayed alongside photographs by Hugh Bell and Van Vechten. There will also be a sound installation accompanying an exhibition of album covers. The exhibition will run from February 3 through May 8.

Norfolk, Virginia's Chrysler Museum of Art has acquired a Beauford Delaney portrait of James Baldwin:

Portrait of James Baldwin
(1965) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The museum's Board of Trustees voted unanimously on December 10, 2015 to purchase this work. It goes on public view this month in Gallery 221 of the Chrysler’s Roberts Wing for American and European Art.

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Beauford and Howard Swanson

The Museum of Modern Art in New York holds two works by Beauford, one of which is a portrait of his dear friend, Howard Swanson:

Portrait of Howard Swanson
(1967) Oil on canvas
Image courtesy of Levis Fine Art
© Estate of Beauford Delaney,
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Howard Swanson was an acclaimed composer who received grants and fellowships that allowed him to travel to Europe before and after the Second World War. In 1952, awards from the National Academy of Arts and Letters and a Guggenheim Fellowship enabled him to settle in Paris a year before Beauford's arrival. He remained in Europe until 1966, when he returned to New York.

Swanson is mentioned nine times in Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney. Biographer David Leeming describes him as a "source of good counsel and friendship" and says that Beauford frequently shared meals with him and could talk with him more freely than with most people. Swanson was present at the gathering organized by Beauford at the Hôtel des Ecoles in December 1955, which resulted in a conflict with the hotel's owners that caused Beauford to move to the Paris suburb of Clamart.

Beauford's Portrait of Howard Swanson was shown in the 1973 solo exhibition of Beauford's work at the Galerie Darthea Speyer in Paris. More recently, it was shown in the Internal Light exhibition at Levis Fine Arts in 2013 and was acquired by MoMA in 2013.

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Beauford at Swann Auction Galleries: December 2015 Sale Results

The results of Swann Auction Galleries' African-American Fine Art winter sale are in.

Three of the four Beauford Delaney paintings offered at auction were sold.

The watercolor entitled Untitled (Abstraction in Pink) (Lot 72) sold for $8,750.

Untitled (Abstraction in Pink)
(1964) Watercolor on Arches paper
572 x 394 mm; 22 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The gouache entitled Untitled (Yellow Field) (Lot 73) sold for $6,250.

Untitled (Yellow Field)
(1966) Gouache on thin wove paper
336 x 222 mm; 13 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The oil monotype entitled Untitled (Woman in an Abstract Field) (Lot 74) sold for $7,000.

Untitled (Woman in an Abstract Field)
(1966) Oil monotype, with hand-painted additions in oil,
on cream wove paper
616 x 483 mm; 24 x 19 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
All sale prices mentioned above include Swann's buyer's premium.*

Lot 71, a watercolor abstraction in green and blue, remains unsold.

*At auction, there are two prices--the hammer price, or the price at which the item sells during the auction, and the price with the buyer's premium. All auction houses have a buyer's premium that the buyer pays to the auction house on top of the hammer price. The buyer’s premium for items purchased directly through Swann is 25%. Swann Auction Galleries now reports the "hammer price" and the price that include the buyer's premium in its online catalog.


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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Beauford at Swann Auction Galleries: December 2015 Sale

Swann Auction Galleries is having a winter sale of African-American Fine Art this year. It will take place at 2:30 PM on Tuesday, December 15, 2015.

Four Beauford Delaney paintings will be auctioned at the event. All are untitled.

Lot 71 is an abstraction in green and blue.

Untitled (Abstraction in Green and Blue)
(1963) Watercolor on thick wove paper
660 x 508 mm; 26 x 20 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It is signed, dated and inscribed "Clermont Seine" in blue ink at the lower left.

Beauford gave this work on paper to James and Gloria Jones in Paris. It was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem and is currently part of a private collection in New York. Its estimated value is $7,000 - 10,000.

Lot 72 is an abstraction in pink that was owned by Beauford's friend Al Hirschfeld prior to being held by Philippe Briet and two subsequent private collectors.

Untitled (Abstraction in Pink)
(1964) Watercolor on Arches paper
572 x 394 mm; 22 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This work is signed, inscribed "Paris" and dated "July 1964" in blue ink at the lower right. Its estimated value is $8000 - $12000.

Lot 73 is a gouache on thin wove paper.

Untitled (Yellow Field)
(1966) Gouache on thin wove paper
336 x 222 mm; 13 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Signed and dated in ink at the lower right, it is currently held by a private collector in New York. Its estimated worth is $4000 - $6000.

Lot 74 is a portrait.

Untitled (Woman in an Abstract Field)
(1966) Oil monotype, with hand-painted additions in oil,
on cream wove paper
616 x 483 mm; 24 x 19 inches
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This oil monotype is signed and dated in ink at the lower corners. With an estimated value of $10000 - $15000, it is part of a private collection in New York.

Preview dates for the show are as follows: Saturday, December 12 from 12 PM - 5 PM; Monday, December 14 from 10 AM - 6 PM; and Tuesday, December 15 from 10 AM - noon.

For more information, contact Nigel Freeman at

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Where to Find Beauford's Art: Art Basel Miami Beach and Treadway Toomey Auctions

Beauford's art is being featured in two major events this week.

The art world is abuzz over the annual Art Basel Miami Beach art fair, North America's "foremost international modern and contemporary art fair". It takes place from December 3-6 this year.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (Booth K4 at the fair) is displaying the Beauford Delaney work below:

Untitled
(c.1958), Oil on canvas
30" x 25" / 76.2 x 63.5 cm
signed and dated
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
and has included nine additional Beauford Delaney works in its MRG Art Basel 2015 checklist (see pages 15-17).

Meanwhile:

In the Chicago area, Beauford’s portrait of his dear friend, Larry Calcagno, is up for sale in the 20th Century Art & Design Auction by Treadway Toomey Gallery.

Portrait of a Young Man (Larry Calcagno)
(1953) Oil on canvas
Signed and dated, 31.75" x 25.5"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
This painting was shown in the Beauford Delaney: From New York to Paris exhibition organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It hung there from November 21, 2004 – February 20, 2005 and was subsequently presented by the Knoxville Museum of Art (April 8 – June 25, 2005), the Greenville County Museum of Art (August 3 – October 2, 2005), and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (November 12, 2005 – January 28, 2006).

Its estimated value for the current sale, which takes place today (December 5, 2015), is between $15,000 and $20,000.

Treadway Toomey, which represents an affiliation between the John Toomey Gallery in Oak Park, IL and the Treadway Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, has sold art by African Americans since the 1990s. The organization began formally offering a collective African-American art sale in June 2014. During that first event, one of Beauford’s abstract paintings from his Paris years sold for $54,900*.

Untitled
(c. 1968-1973) Oil on canvas
Signed, 8.66" x 12.99"
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Thom Pegg is the African-American art specialist for the auction house. He has been working with museums and important private collectors for many years to help them develop their collections of African-American art.


*Including Buyer's Premium - an additional service charge for which the buyer is responsible, to be added to the price of the item.

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Beauford's Art: Reminiscence of the Painting "Portrait of a Young Man (Burton D. Reinfrank)"

I recently had the pleasure of viewing Burt Reinfrank's private collection of Beauford Delaney paintings and was surprised to find this portrait:

Portrait of Burt Reinfrank
(1971) Charcoal on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
© Discover Paris!
hanging next to the color portrait of Burt that I know so well:

Portrait of Burt Reinfrank
(1968) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Photo: © Discover Paris!
Here's the "back story" as told by Burt Reinfrank:

One afternoon in September 1966 I called at Beauford's studio and saw an almost completed portrait on his easel. It was of James Speyer. In the portrait, Speyer wore a yellow turtleneck sweater against a brown background. I passed by the studio a week later and was surprised to see the color of the sweater and that of the background had been reversed. Beauford explained that when Speyer saw the painting, he asked him to reverse the colors.

Portrait of James Speyer
(1966) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
I liked the portrait and asked Beauford if he would paint one of me that same size (60 francs). He said yes, if I would bring him the canvas.

In December, I went by an art supply shop in Montparnasse, picked up a canvas, and brought it to Beauford's studio. He immediately put it on his easel, sat me in his "sitters" chair facing the back of the easel, sat down in front, and started drawing in charcoal. He drew for more than an hour, recounting different episodes in his life.

Suddenly he stopped and said, "It's finished. Come have a look."

Photo of Beauford Delaney drawing of Burton Reinfrank
Photo courtesy of Burton Reinfrank
When I saw the drawing, I said: "It's great, keep if for me just as it is. I will bring you another canvas for the painting." But when I came by the studio a week later, the drawing had disappeared under paint.

I said: "Beauford, I wanted the drawing as it was." He replied: "I'll do you another."

He did, a smaller charcoal drawing on canvas in 1971.

Photo of Beauford and Burt Reinfrank
holding his second charcoal portrait
Image courtesy of Burton Reinfrank

At the outset I had told Beauford that what I wanted was a great painting, not necessarily a likeness. Beauford proceeded to paint Portrait of a Young Man (Burton Reinfrank) with no further sitting.

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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation (WIF) are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT!

To contribute to the show, click HERE.

To sign-up to receive the latest behind-the-scenes news about the show, click HERE.

Where to Find Beauford's Art: Minneapolis Institute of Arts

During a recent trip to Minneapolis, I had the pleasure of visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. This extraordinary museum holds several Beauford Delaney works.

Currently on display is the "famous" raincoat painting, a vibrant abstract that Beauford created using a raincoat fragment for canvas.

Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
Gift of Jacques and Solange du Closel
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
It sits on a pedestal that allows visitors to view the rear of the painting, which reveals the seam (center) and pocket (upper right) that bear witness to the origin of the canvas.

Rear of Untitled (raincoat painting)
(1954) Oil on raincoat fragment
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
Also on display is one of many paintings in which Beauford depicts Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park. It is being shown as part of a special exhibition entitled American Modernism: Selections from the Kunin Collection.

Untitled (Washington Square Park)
(1952) Oil on canvas
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
The Myron Kunin Collection of American Art is widely considered to be one of the most important privately held collections of American art in the world. Untitled (Washington Square Park) was selected as one of 80 works that the Kunin family has placed on long-term loan to the museum from the ~550 pieces of art in its collection.

MIA holds four additional Beauford Delaney works, all of which are currently on reserve. All were shown in the MIA exhibition From New York to Paris.

Jazz Quartet
(1946) Oil on canvas
On loan from a private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Clamart Red
(1958) Oil on canvas
On loan from a private collection
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Abstract Composition
(1955) Gouache and watercolor
Gift of the Harriet Hanley Estate
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Ciel (Sky)
(1960) Color screenprint
Gift of the Harriet Hanley Estate
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator
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Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, Reid Hall, and the Wells International Foundation are partnering to bring an exhibition of original Beauford Delaney works to Reid Hall in Paris in February 2016! To sign-up to receive information about this show, click HERE.